Christmas Wish
by charming-witch
Summary: Danny is in a bad mood because he will have to spend his first Christmas without Grace. Steve decides Danny needs a Christmas surprise. - Gen


Title: Christmas Wish

For: written for kitmerlot1213 on lj, via h50-holidayswap on lj

Fandom: Hawaii Five-0

Characters: **Danny, Steve, Grace, Rachel**, Kamekona, assumed presence of the rest of the team + friends & family

Pairings: none, but Danny/Steve friendship and Danny/Rachel friendship

Rating: PG

Summary: Danny is in a bad mood because he will have to spend his first Christmas without Grace. Steve decides Danny needs a Christmas surprise.

Word count: ~ 1692

Disclaimer: I don't own Hawaii Five-0 or any of the characters. I wish I did. I don't make any money with this! I just write for fun and hope someone else will enjoy it, too.

Other Warnings: I'm German and my English isn't and probably never will be perfect. I hope I don't make too many mistakes. Feel free to point out errors so I can learn and improve.

Author notes: Merry Christmas, kitmerlot1213. I hope you like the ficlet.

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Danny swam towards the pier, spitting water and pulling the unconscious suspect he had caught with him. Once at the pier he held on to it with one hand, then looked up and narrowed his eyes when he saw his partner Steve grinning down at him.

"Stop grinning like an idiot and get this perp out of my sight," he grumbled and pushed the man toward Steve's outstretched hand.

"Oh come on, Danny, a little swim has never hurt anyone," Steve said still grinning, then pulled the suspect out of the water.

"A little swim has never hurt anyone?" Danny repeated incredulously. "Says the one who is dry and comfy. Next time _you_ jump into the ocean to get a fleeing suspect!"

"I was a little busy myself," Steve pointed out and smiled in an amused kind of way, making Danny feel even more annoyed.

"I noticed that; and while we're already at it…" he added before getting out of the water. "…I'd appreciate it if you didn't always run off on your own to play hero."

"We agreed to split up to check the marina quicker," Steve said.

"Yeah, but what we didn't agree on was you jumping on a fleeing boat with one of your crazy ninja SEAL moves and fighting four suspects on your own, leaving me to deal with the last one, which caused me to end up in the ocean."

"Ninja SEAL moves?" Steve asked smirking, before adding: "You're not jealous, are you? Because I got four and you only one?"

Danny snorted. Jealous, yeah, right. He could care less about Steve catching four of them or about his SEAL training. Not that he minded that his partner could take care of himself; it was probably the only reason why the man was still alive with his tendency to act without thinking. What Danny did mind were his careless actions. Watching his partner jump onto a moving boat with four armed suspects while being at the other end of the marina really wasn't fun. The last thing he needed was another dead partner.

"As if," Danny grumbled and flicked his hands, sputtering water at Steve. "Just keep acting the way you do and see where it gets you." That said he turned and gestured to the arriving police officers to get the suspect he had caught and the others who were unconscious and cuffed to the boat Steve apprehended.

"You're a bit testy today… even more than usual," Steve observed.

"I'm not _testy_. Not now, not ever. I just want to get out of here to get some dry clothes," Danny stated and started to walk off.

"Come on, spit it out. What's going on?"

Danny glanced at Steve who was now walking next to him and narrowed his eyes. He was contemplating to tell Steve to just leave him alone, but then sighed. Steve was right after all, he really was in a bad mood.

"It's Rachel. She decided to take Grace to visit Stan's family on the mainland. They are leaving today."

"Oh," Steve said silently. "Which means…"

"Yeah," Danny mumbled, cutting Steve off. "It's not that I don't want Grace to go. She loves Stan's family, and going on vacations."

"But it's Christmas," Steve said.

"Yeah, and I've never spent Christmas without Grace," Danny admitted. It just didn't feel like Christmas if he couldn't give his daughter presents and dress up like Santa for her. Yes, he knew that Grace was getting a bit old for him to play Santa for her, but it was their _thing_. Christmas without it, and especially without his daughter, just didn't feel like Christmas at all.

"You're spending Christmas at my place," Steve said clapping Danny on the shoulder.

"Er… no, thanks… I think Christmas is cancelled for me this year," Danny objected. "I'm just not in the mood anymore."

"I'm not taking no for an answer," Steve said. "My place at 5."

Danny frowned. "And then what? We spend and awkward evening with your mom?"

Steve raised an eyebrow. "You saying you don't like my mom?"

Danny snorted slightly.

"Yeah, alright, she tends to make things a little awkward from time to time. But that's why we're going to have a Christmas barbeque with the whole team… and friends. In fact I'm going to call them all right now," Steve said. "You go on ahead, get some dry clothes so you won't be grumpy all day."

"Why? You going to uninvite me from the party I don't want to go to in the first place, if I stay grumpy?" Danny asked.

Steve just smirked. "Nice try."

Danny smiled slightly and went to his car. Maybe Christmas wouldn't get as awful as he thought after all. Still, without Grace it just wouldn't be the same.

xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx

Danny arrived at the McGarrett house shortly after 5 p.m., carrying a pack of beer. Steve opened the door and waved him in. A chorus of 'Mele Kalikimaka' greeted him as he entered.

"Merry Christmas to you, too," Danny said and tried to refrain from rolling his eyes at them. They all knew he didn't like the Hawaiian term for 'Merry Christmas', which probably was exactly why they said it. He wasn't going to let them annoy him, but he definitely wasn't going to say it back to them either! Handing Steve the beer he joined the others, who led him to the backyard.

Stepping into the garden Danny saw Kamekona standing near the grill, wiggling his eyebrows in a weird way and grinning widely. What was that about? Then something green and red jumped out from behind Kamekona screaming: "Mele Kalikimaka, Danno!"

Danny's eyes widened as he took in the cutest Christmas elf he had ever seen. A smile appeared on his face as surprise made room for happiness.

"Grace!" Danny called, rushed forward and swooped his daughter up in a hug.

"Surprise," Grace said smiling widely.

"That really is a surprise," Danny agreed, then looked at Rachel, who apparently had been hiding behind Kamekona as well.

"Merry Christmas, Danny," she said.

"I thought your flight left hours ago. You didn't plan this all along, did you?" Danny asked.

"Not all along, no," Rachel admitted. "I really didn't find another flight for us, like I said. But then I got a call this morning..." She glanced at Steve meaningfully. "… saying that we couldn't possibly leave on Christmas Eve."

Danny glanced at Steve. "You did this?"

"Well…" Steve said. "I helped a little."

"He found us another flight early tomorrow morning."

Danny grinned happily. "Best Christmas present ever."

"I haven't even given you your present yet, Danno," Grace said.

"I thought my present was this cute little Christmas elf, who is getting way too heavy by the way."

"Danno!" Grace exclaimed while he sat her down. "I'm not heavy!"

"Of course not monkey… er, _elf_, but you're getting taller by the day, which means…" Danny trailed off as Grace ran towards the grill, where Kamekona had started to give out food, pretending to pout.

"Hey, Grace, I didn't mean…"

"Just leave it, Danny, you're not going to win that one," Steve said and handed Danny a beer.

"You're probably right," Danny agreed.

"Come on, let's get something to eat," Steve suggested.

Danny looked up at him and smiled. "Thank you. I have no idea how you managed to convince Rachel of this or get them another flight, but…"

"You're welcome," Steve said, interrupting him. "It probably helped that I didn't mention that the flight they're taking is on a military plane…"

"A _military_ plane? Seriously?" Danny asked.

Steve simply chuckled and walked to the grill. Danny followed, trying not to picture Rachel's look when she found out about that detail of her changed travel plans. Smiling to himself he went over to his ex wife.

"Thank you, Rachel, this really means a lot."

Rachel turned and smiled at him. "Any time, Danny." Seeing her smile Danny was reminded of why he had fallen for her. With the problems they had had since getting divorced it was sometimes easy to forget that despite everything Rachel was still the same woman he had married all those years ago. Reaching out he took her hand and gently squeezed it. Rachel squeezed back, then pulled something out of her pocket.

"It wasn't just Steve who convinced me of this," she said and handed him a piece of paper.

"What's this?" Danny wanted to know.

"Grace's wish list to Santa," Rachel said with a slight laugh. "I have a feeling she made sure I found it."

Danny looked at the list. It only had one wish written on it: _spending Christmas with Danno_. He looked up and at Grace who winked at him, causing him to smile happily. He definitely had the best daughter in the world.

"I guess sometimes Christmas wishes do come true," Danny said before turning back to Rachel. "Just don't blame me when you see your plane tomorrow." That said he quickly rushed off and joined Grace.

"Danny, what is that supposed to mean?" Rachel asked following him.

"Nothing," Danny quickly said while snatching a cookie from Grace's plate.

"Hey, that's mine," Grace complained.

"No cookies before dinner," Danny replied, then put the cookie in his mouth. Grace stared at him, looking outraged. "Adults are excluded from that rule of course," he added with a laugh.

"Seems like you're in a much better mood now," Steve exclaimed. "Must be this Christmas elf's influence." He put an arm around Grace's shoulder and grinned down at her.

"Do you like it?" Grace asked gesturing at her costume and looking up expectantly at Steve and Danny. "They didn't have a Santa outfit in my size, so I thought this would have to do, since I knew Danno probably wouldn't bring his Santa suit."

"It's perfect, my little elf princess," Danny said.

Steve chuckled. "So, little elf princess, would you like me to tell you a story? It's a Christmas story actually… about a grumpy Detective who took an involuntary bath on Christmas morning."

Danny groaned while everyone else started to laugh.


End file.
